Regional Monitoring Program
 The Regional Monitoring Program is designed to answer two different types of questions about the Galveston Bay System. The first type asks such questions as, " Are the goals and objectives set forth in The Galveston Bay Plan being met?, Are the regulatory agencies and the regulated community fulfilling their commitments to The Plan? Are actions in The Plan having the desired impact? Does The Plan need to be changed? " If the monitoring results indicate that The Plan's objectives are not being met, then the actions can be modified or the objectives can be changed to reflect a better scientific understanding about the bay. The second type of question, which is much broader, asks, "Is the health of the ecosystem changing, either for the better or the worse?" To answer this type of question, information from the monitoring program may be used to:
- Improve our understanding of the Galveston Bay System
- Assist in setting environmental standards
- Support the development of predictive tools
Two monitoring elements are being used to provide information to answer the questions listed above. The programmatic monitoring element of the Regional Monitoring Program includes annual one-on-one surveys of GBEP Partners. This survey is conducted in order to markedly increase data availability for interpreting progress in implementation of The Galveston Bay Plan. The environmental monitoring element of the Regional Monitoring Program lends itself to assessment of Plan objectives rather than the specific Plan actions. The Regional Monitoring Program seeks to promote a cooperative effort by all agencies that participate in bay monitoring activities.
The Monitoring Subcommittee of the Galveston Bay Council is charged with facilitating implementation of the Regional Monitoring Program through our GBEP Partners.
Results!
- Through the coordination of Galveston Bay monitoring efforts, the Regional Monitoring Program ensures data are available and accessible to answer environmental monitoring questions.
- Building a series of reports capable of answering the question "Is the health of the ecosystem changing, either for the better or the worse?"
- In order to ensure access to data, a centralized data and information management system (DIMS) has been developed. Connect to Data and Mapping for access to the GIS-based component of the GBEP web site.
Regional Monitoring Program implementation highlights:
Status and Trends Database
The Status and Trends Database (S&T) incorporates Galveston Bay data collected by various federal, state and local agencies and organizations into one database, with the intention to apply these data sets to the priority management issues raised in The Galveston Bay Plan. Initial data sets have been collected and stored on a secure dedicated server and preliminary analyses have been provided through previous contracts concerning S&T. Some of these data are also summarized in The State of the Bay: A Characterization of the Galveston Bay Ecosystem, 2nd Edition.
Search for other Galveston Bay Plan implementation projects.
See more information on the Regional Monitoring Program in The Galveston Bay Plan.
How well are GBEP and its partners doing with Galveston Bay Plan implementation?
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